Monster High: Season of the Witch

26. Double Trouble

At first, Beatrix thought she'd read Guillermo's lips wrong.

Bram and Vilhelm can't be here... I haven't seen them on campus at all since Grey scared them off in Downtown New Salem.

She'd assumed the two vampire boys were suspended while the school board investigated the nightclub incident and Gilda Goldstag's murder.

But then again — Bloodgood had never explicitly said that was going to happen. The vamp's suspension had been entirely a speculation on Beatrix's part.

And even if the vampire boys were technically suspended, that didn't mean they couldn't show up to Draculaura's house a mile off-campus, far from any campus security.

"Hells," Beatrix breathed.

Still ducked down behind the kitchen island, Beatrix peered out and saw Bram and Vilhelm. They stood behind Gory and their other bloodsucker friends, looking just as menacing as the night Beatrix had seen them drain two human girls.

Their blood red eyes were locked on Draculaura at the moment. The short pink vamp was the only thing standing between the pack of bloodsuckers and the kitchen.

Beatrix knew that vampires could only enter homes that they'd previously been invited into—which meant that Draculaura must've been on friendly-enough terms with them that they could waltz into her living room unannounced.

Beatrix shrunk back behind the counter before any of them noticed her.

"We're goners. I'm too young to die," Guillermo whimpered.

Soft footsteps padded to the kitchen.

Beatrix and Guillermo tensed up, terrified a vampire was about to discover them.

There were no kitchen knives or even spatulas nearby to arm herself with. Beatrix had no idea what to do.

I wish Grey was here.

Then she heard Guillermo sigh in relief beside her. Beatrix looked up and saw Autumn enter the kitchen.

The scarecrow held two glasses in her hands, heading towards the punch bowl for a refill.

As Autumn passed by, Beatrix grabbed her soft arm and yanked her down.

"What—"

Beatrix clamped a hand over Autumn's mouth. "Shhh! Give me your phone."

"Why?" Autumn demanded, muffled under Beatrix's hand.

Beatrix reached into the scarecrow's pocket and pulled out her orange iCoffin.

She typed in a phone number that she'd recently burned into her brain.

Grey had told her to call him if she ran into trouble, but calling him wasn't an option now. Instead, Beatrix needed to text him to avoid making any unnecessary noise.

Beatrix hastily typed a message for Grey: Mad vamps at Drac's. SOS – B.

She hit send.

"Give me my phone back. I need to refill my and Clawdeen's drink," Autumn muttered.

Beatrix looked at the glasses in Autumn's hands. One of them still had a few sips of punch in it.

Smudges of red lipstick stained the glass's rim.

Clawdeen's lipstick.

By the look of it, the drink had touched Clawdeen's lips multiple times.

And if any of Clawdeen's saliva got into the cup, that meant Beatrix had werewolf venom right in front of her.

To replicate a werewolf's strength and speed for a limited time, Spectra had told her to consume two fingernail amounts of cursed venom.

Or, wait, did Spectra say I can only consume one fingernail amount of venom?

If Beatrix didn't get the amount right, she was at risk of transforming into a werewolf forever, regardless of how much wolfsbane she consumed to counteract its effects.

But there was no time for Beatrix to second-guess herself.

Even if Draculaura and the other fearleading ghouls stepped in, Beatrix wasn't convinced they'd be able to ward off a vengeful hoard of vampires.

The only shot Beatrix had was to use Clawdeen's werewolf venom to gain some supernatural speed. She didn't care if she had to sling Autumn and Guillermo over her shoulders and high tail it all the way back to campus herself; Beatrix wasn't going to let those vamps kill her and her friends.

Beatrix turned to Guillermo and whispered, "Is there a back door?"

"Right there," Guillermo pointed to a glass door in the kitchen that barely looked distinguishable from the glass wall. "But they'll hear us. The door's latch is loud."

That's fine. We'll be out of here fast, if Spectra's werewolf power plan works, Beatrix thought.

She trusted the ghost's judgment when it came to unconventional witchcraft techniques. After all, Spectra's mental manipulation method with the siren song had been extremely effective.

Before she could talk herself out of it, Beatrix grabbed Clawdeen's glass from Autumn and downed the leftover liquid. She was grateful that Clawdeen's saliva was mixed with tropical punch and maraschino cherries.

"Bea, what on earth—"

Beatrix frantically pulled purple wolfsbane leaves out of her pockets and swallowed as many as she could without chewing, desperate to get them down her throat. They tasted like dirt.

Once she'd gulped down the odd mix of ingredients, Beatrix started crawling across the cold kitchen floor to the door. Guillermo followed after.

"Someone gonna tell me what's going on?" Autumn asked.

"Not now, strawhead."

"Don't call me strawhead," Autumn snapped, voice raising.

Beatrix raised a finger to her lips. "Not now. Just trust me. C'mon."

Autumn gave in and crawled after.

Beatrix reached up and twisted the door's handle, pushing it open slightly so only a bit of night air entered the kitchen.

Beatrix squeezed through the small opening and lowered herself down Draculaura's back porch steps.

Guillermo and Autumn copied Beatrix, stepping down onto the forest grounds below. Pine needles crunched under their sneakers. Once Autumn made it out, the door's latch clicked heavily behind them.

"There's no way they didn't hear us." Guillermo panicked under his breath.

"Pudgy's right. With all that whispering, you thought you could sneak away?" a sickening voice said, right next to Beatrix's ear.

Beatrix jolted away and fell sideways into the dirt. She looked up at Bram and Vilhelm standing above her.

One of the boys gave Beatrix a hollow smile, sharp fangs glistening in the moonlight.

"We've been meaning to speak with you, witch snitch."